Minister’s Murdoch links unveiled

AFP, LONDON

Political satirist Kaya Mar carries his painting of British Prime Minster David Cameron being hit on the head while in bed by a painting of News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch outside the Leveson Inquiry at the High Court in London yesterday.

Photo: EPA

Press tycoon Rupert Murdoch’s son received regular confidential updates from the British government over News Corp’s bid for full control of pay-TV giant BSkyB, a press ethics inquiry heard on Tuesday.

A string of e-mails from Murdoch’s media empire, read out in a dramatic day of evidence at the Leveson Inquiry, revealed the closeness and frequency of News Corp’s contacts with advisors to British Culture Minister Jeremy Hunt.

James Murdoch, a top News Corp executive, denied that Hunt had been an active “cheerleader” within government for the now-abandoned takeover bid.

News Corp was forced to drop its attempt to take control of the highly profitable BSkyB in July last year after its British newspaper wing was engulfed by a phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World tabloid.

It would have been Hunt’s role to make a quasi-judicial decision on whether to allow the deal to go through, although his remit was purely to examine whether it threatened plurality in the media.

James Murdoch admitted he had discussed the proposed takeover at a 2010 Christmas party with British Prime Minister David Cameron — though Cameron previously denied having had an “inappropriate conversation” with him about the bid.

Earlier this month, James Murdoch quit as chairman of BSkyB, the British television giant in which his father’s News Corp holds a 39 percent stake.

He remains deputy chief operating officer of US-based News Corp.

As the string of e-mails was aired, bookmakers stopped taking bets on whether Hunt would be forced to resign as demanded by Ed Miliband, leader of the opposition Labour Party.

“I myself have said all politicians, including Labour, became too close to the Murdochs, but this is in a completely different league,” Miliband said.

However, Cameron’s spokesman insisted the prime minister continued to have full confidence in Hunt, whose remit also includes being the lead minister during the London Olympics.

Hunt later said he had acted with “scrupulous fairness” and said he had written to Leveson asking for an early appearance before the inquiry “to resolve this issue as soon as possible.”

In his statement, Hunt claimed some of the meetings mentioned in the e-mails “simply didn’t happen” and that he had followed the advice of independent regulators throughout the process.

He also accused his critics of “jumping on the political bandwagon.”

The early editions of yesterday’s papers turned the screw on the government, with the Guardian, which uncovered much of the hacking scandal, running with the headline “Minister for Murdoch.”

James Murdoch was grilled about his family’s links to politicians as he gave evidence under oath at the inquiry, which was set up in the wake of the hacking scandal.

His father, Rupert Murdoch, was due to give evidence to the inquiry yesterday and today.

His 39-year-old son admitted that he and the prime minister talked about the bid for BSkyB at the December 2010 party.

“It was a tiny side conversation ahead of a dinner where all these people were there,” Murdoch told the inquiry.

When asked in parliament last year whether Cameron had discussed BSkyB at the party, Cameron said he had “never had one inappropriate conversation.”

James Murdoch revealed that he had a total of 12 meetings with Cameron before his Conservative Party came to power in a coalition government in May 2010.